Sensō-ji Temple at Asakusa, Tokyo

You know, Japan has a lot of cities such as Yokohama, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, etc.; among those, Tokyo is the biggest and the most lively one. Besides some big malls at Tokyo, there are a lot of interest places that you can visit when coming here. One of them is Sensō-ji, a temple with special feature and Asian style of the “Land of the rising sun”.

From the main gate, you can see a lot of shops along the way to the main temple such as candy, clothes, and many other Japanese souvenir shops.

At the first time, you may be confused on where to start and how to do. Luckily there is a Japanese couple has helped and instructed me. Firstly, you will go to a small shrine which has a sculpture and a fountain. As Japanese’ traditional, before getting into a sacred place, you have to refresh your body. So the fountain here is used to clean your body and mouth.

Next, you will see a big vase with many incense sticks. Here you will use hands to get the incense to your body parts where you want to be better. I have got the incense to my head so I can be smarter LOL.

Now we are going inside the main temple.

So this is the main hall where everybody comes to pray. And this is the steps to do: First, you throw a coin to ..(??).. (I don’t know) .. (maybe) .. a kind of box. Then you hold hands together and wish. Then you holding hands together again and kowtow.

This is where we throw coins in

After that, you can take a wishing paper to see what it tell you.

You would be great if you took a paper that tells you good. But if it doesn’t, don’t worry, you can tie your paper to the piles nearby because it means you leave the bad, unlucky things at the temple.

Finally, you can choose to buy a charm for yourself or to gift friends, family. There are different charms for study, love, career, etc.

And this is the views around the temple before I was leaving.

Hey, if you love Sensō-ji Temple and want to have a tour visiting more interested places of Tokyo, why not check out the ‘7 days itinerary in Tokyo‘!

Thach Le (Japanese Contributor)Cooking and traveling lover. An international student at Japan currently spending his time wandering and exploring the “Land of the Rising Sun”.

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Khoi Nguyen builds The Broad Life with desire to inspire people go exploring the world and live a more interest, experience, and adventurous life. This blog shares the stories, pictures and experiences at destinations where he has traveled to.